Members of Edmonton’s amateur fighting community are asking questions after a man competing at a charity mixed martial arts match died after the event.
The amateur fighting event, put on by U.K.-based Ultra MMA, took place Saturday, Nov. 23 at the Enoch Community Centre, on the First Nation directly west of Edmonton.
Alberta Health Services confirmed EMS responded around 7:23 p.m. on November 23. An adult patient was transported to hospital in stable, non-life-threatening condition.
He later died, according to both Ultra MMA and people who participated in the event and spoke with Global News.
Natalia Rajkovic was one of two women amongst the 20 or so fighters who trained together for eight weeks leading up to the fight, and spoke well of the man who died.
“He was a really nice guy. He was always so full of energy. He was fashionable. He was just always smiling.”
Rajkovic said her and the other woman would often be paired up to practice with the men.
“They were just all so nice and so welcoming. It’s really unfortunate that this was the outcome.”
RCMP on Monday confirmed the Parkland County detachment, which has a police station in Enoch, received a report about a death as a result of a charity boxing match, and said police were reviewing the matter.
Global News is withholding the name of the man who is believed to have died as RCMP have not yet confirmed his next-of-kin have been notified.
On Tuesday, Ultra MMA sent a message to all the participants also confirming the death.
The fighter died after being taken to hospital, Rajkovic was told.
“I got a call from his wife. She called me at 4 a.m. and then called me again at 8 a.m. to tell me that he’d passed away,” Rajkovic said.
Charles Proulx is an amateur MMA fighter who was also supposed to take part in the fight on Saturday night.
He said he heard about the event via a Facebook advertisement about year ago, and joined the group training for the event two months ago.
“I was really excited about it. I showed up to pretty much every training session,” Proulx said. “It’s a two-month training camp, two hours a week training session and basically they try to turn a nobody into a decent fighter.”
A month before the event, Proulx said fighters had to get a medical exam done with their own doctor that included blood tests and an eye exam.
“And then just before the fight, we had another medical that we had to pass,” Proulx explained.
There were supposed to be 19 fights, with each of the three rounds lasting 90 seconds, but Rajkovic said a few people didn’t pass their medicals on the day of.
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Rajkovic explained that the fighter’s match was the second of the night. The third match did get underway, she said, but was then stopped when the doctor was unable to return to the ring because he was attending to the fighter.
“They had to shut it down there because (the) ambulance was coming,” Proulx said, adding the remaining 15 fights were cancelled.
Like Rajkovic, Proulx said he also trained with the fighter who died. Proulx said he was in great physical shape but on Saturday night, appeared to be struggling.
“We could see during the fight that he was gassing out real quick and for a guy that jacked and everything, that was kind of odd.”
Proulx said he didn’t see his fellow fighter get hit hard or be injured during the fight.
“He was throwing the big hits and he actually won the fight.”
Despite that, Proulx said in his opinion, the man didn’t tap out when he should have and said he had to be helped out of the ring.
Both Proulx and Rajkovic feel the fight should have been stopped early.
“I don’t want to put the blame on anybody, but it’s really unfortunate what happened. And I mean, they want to let the guys live their experience, right? But from the get-go, I don’t think he was fit to fight,” Proulx said.
Fighters know what they are signing up for, Proulx said: “You’re putting your life on the line to give a show.”
There are more questions than answers, Proulx said.
“It was really poor planning from the get-go,” Proulx said, explaining he and other fighters helped set up the venue and said they had to find their own space in the community centre to get ready for the night.
Rajkovic said they ended up in a fitness centre that was also open to the public.
“I come in and there’s someone working out and I was kind of confused. I’ve never seen this fighter before,” Rajkovic said.
They said the event seemed disorganized — although Proulx did note the fight happened on a day in which the Edmonton region received a massive snowfall so everyone arrived late to begin with.
“Us fighters, we just get prepared for the fight and we just expect the proper people to show up.”
Proulx said tickets were expensive — $70 to stand, $90 to sit, and $1,200 for a VIP table for 10, and each participant had to sell at least 10 tickets to participate.
“Really disappointed — like, everybody was really prepared for this, everybody did the work, did their cardio, their drills. We’re really, really disappointed.”
It’s not clear what charitable organization the event was raising funds for, although Rajkovic said they were raising money for the Canadian Cancer Society and fighters could also raise extra funds for a charity of their choice.
In a statement to Global News, the Canadian arm of the organization, Ultra Events Canada, said:
“Everyone at Ultra Events Canada was devastated to hear about our participant’s tragic death and our deepest sympathies go out to his family. Ultra Events Canada will, of course, offer his family and friends any support we can at this very sad time. The event at the Enoch Community Centre was carried out under the auspices of the Central Combat Sports Commission. With investigations now underway into the cause of our participant’s death it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”
Global News reached out to the Central Combat Sports Commission, which is based in Penhold in central Alberta, but as of publishing had not heard back.
Unlike other provinces, Alberta does not regulate combative sports at a provincial level. Earlier this month, a judge leading a fatality inquiry into the 2017 knockout death of boxer Tim Hague in Edmonton recommended changes to how the sport is regulated and how head injuries are monitored.
Justice Carrie Sharpe with Alberta’s provincial court made 14 recommendations in a report published last month, including that combat sports be overseen by a provincial authority instead of a patchwork of municipal bodies.
On Tuesday, the Alberta government said under the Municipal Government Act, municipalities in Alberta currently hold the decision-making authority through municipal combative sport commissions, and will sometimes sanction events on First Nations.
“These municipal combative sport commissions set their own rules and guidelines with regard to the sanctioning of these events. Nine municipalities in Alberta have a combative sports commission including Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge, Wood Buffalo, Grande Prairie, Medicine Hat, Penhold, Cold Lake and Taber,” said a statement from Tourism and Sport Ministry communications director Nancy Bishay.
The event in Enoch was supposed to be her first fight and now, Rajkovic said she will do more research before signing up for an event, as she does aspire to be a mixed-martial arts athlete.
“We’re all in the same boat that this should have never happened: that it was poorly organized, that so many things could have stopped it from happening and that it could have been an awesomely run event,” Rajkovic said.
“There needs to be a bigger and more stern set on who’s able to hold these organizations and these fundraisers.”
— With a file from Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press